Original Sin - Post-Funding Update #62

June 19th, 2014, 19:33

In this update for Larian Studios' Divinity Original Sin we are shown what the boxed version of the game look like.

They als mention that it is time to add your physical address on Larian Vault for those that have physical items to receive (note that this does not apply to those who won a physical item in our raffle last year).

And for backers the Steam early access code will expire.

Everybody who backed us on Kickstarter received a Steam Early Access code. We promised however that you'll be able to select which platform you want to receive your digital download on, so on the day of release, the Kickstarter Early Access codes will stop working and you'll need to log in to the Larian Vault to select which platform you want to play on. You will then get a new code.

If you purchased the game on Steam Early Access, don't worry, your codes will keep on working. This message only applies to the Steam Early Access codes that were given away to our backers.

Originally Posted by mugsyman
Spend $25 April 2013 for Original Sin to play day one when released.
Risk:$25 game is never released.
Spend $31.99 June 2014 for Original Sin to play day one when released in 10 days.
Risk:NA

Kickstarter savings $6.99 for day one play. Risk vs Reward too high?

Well, if everybody had this thought, nobody would have done the KS and the game wouldn't have happened.

And this game isn't great but it is pretty good. It might become better too as Larian has a good track record of patching and fixing things and even adding new features after release. I'd suggest waiting for a few patches before biting the bullet, if you haven't already.

Originally Posted by mugsyman
Spend $25 April 2013 for Original Sin to play day one when released.
Risk:$25 game is never released.
Spend $31.99 June 2014 for Original Sin to play day one when released in 10 days.
Risk:NA

Originally Posted by crpgnut
And this game isn't great but it is pretty good. It might become better too as Larian has a good track record of patching and fixing things and even adding new features after release. I'd suggest waiting for a few patches before biting the bullet, if you haven't already.

Personally speaking, I had a fantastic time playing through the beta on 2 occasions and had to stop myself from playing too much so that I could enjoy the full game

I would say even in its unfinished state, it was the best game I'd played in a loooong time.

Lords of Xulima, Dead State, Dragon Age 3, Runemaster, Blackguards 2. Maybe Age of Decadence and/or Underrail. Shroud of the Avatar, if you still consider that a serious game as opposed to a real estate simulator.

Originally Posted by Dr. A
Personally speaking, I had a fantastic time playing through the beta on 2 occasions and had to stop myself from playing too much so that I could enjoy the full game

I would say even in its unfinished state, it was the best game I'd played in a loooong time.

Depending on which versions of the beta you played, I could agree with you. The game has regressed in the last 3 patches. They've taken away much of the loot and added level restrictions to everything so that you can use very little of what you find until levels later. Skills have been nerfed, vendors have way less variety, they've taken away most of the reason to explore as you can't use the higher level loot if you do take a chance in a tougher area.

It went from being very good four patches ago, to just decent today. They're fixing things that weren't broken and breaking things that used to work. The bug lists for each patch gets longer and longer.

They've also admitted that much of what was promised in the kickstarter isn't even in the game yet. They're going to patch it in later. Things like AI personalities so that you don't have to pick every conversation choice for both main characters. That didn't make it in. They do have an AI package that makes one or both of your characters choose randomly, but this will seriously gimp your build if you choose it.

One major caveat. I've played hundreds of hours by this time, so some of my excitement would naturally wane. A first time player is not going to know how good certain parts of the game were in beta version blah. They're not going to know that crafting ingredients used to be common instead of extremely rare, for example.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
Crowdfunding is NOT about risks and rewards or an advance order. Crowdfunding is giving money to devs you trust to make (hopefully) a great game. Nothing more, nothing less.

Actually, whenever you give money to any entity (person or business) with the expectation of some kind of future return, there is risk involved. You used the word, 'trust' which most definitely implies risk.

That all said, so far, crowd-funding seems to be working. I've been aware of the concept for a few years now and participated in it a few times now. I have yet to become aware of any scam or scandal (perhaps some of you are aware of some and can provide links) emanating through brokerages such as Kickstarter - though they are likely inevitable over the long term.

But the market will decide weather crowd-funding lives or dies over the long haul and I'm fine with that. If crowd-funding turns into a cesspool of con artists and thieves, it should die.

So far however, I personally find it to be a good thing simply because it is allowing a way to get some new kinds of gameplay or revisit gameplay of the past that was so much fun.

The last 15 years of publisher-based games have largely produced one FPS after the next. I like FPS games but there are way too many of them and the publisher way of doing things can't seem to escape the FPS concept. Added to that are the 'mainstream' gamers who give every indication they won't tire of FPS games anytime soon so I guess it makes sense for the publishers to milk it.

That is why I'm happy for crowd-funding and I think it's worth the risk, at least so far, to participate and help worthy efforts by sometimes paying far more for a game than I normally would. The alternative is another guaranteed FPS from publishers.

— If I'm right but there is no wife around to acknowledge it, am I still right?

Originally Posted by Stingray
That's extremely disappointing, it's one of the things generally missing in any modern RPG that were one of the highlights in old RPGs.

I agree. It's a lot of fun to play an RPG through to the end and then on a subsequent play through, when you know a lot about the game, try to get the uber gear early on and get an edge in the game for a time. U7's secret stash area was awesome.

— If I'm right but there is no wife around to acknowledge it, am I still right?

Well, I don't agree - I played all of the beta content without the restrictions and the combat got a bit dull after I made myself a spell powerhouse - nothing could stop me. A bit of restrictions would help and I got leveled up 10+ during the beta, so you will be able to use most of them before beating 1/3 of the game (though the experience gained have been tuned down too).

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
I agree. It's a lot of fun to play an RPG through to the end and then on a subsequent play through, when you know a lot about the game, try to get the uber gear early on and get an edge in the game for a time. U7's secret stash area was awesome.

Yeah, for sure. It's like in Dark Souls its fun to start again and have all these items in mind to build your character with and you start trying to work out the quickest way from one to the next using the master key and things like that. You feel your brain is in overdrive mode trying to remember everything at once but its also clear of any thought. It's like meditation RPG style.